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Keys to playoff success? Topic

I am getting very frustrated in my quest to complete the WIS career grand slam. All that is missing for me, is a hockey title.

Not that it's not hard enough dealing with having to beat out chuck, nickneely, jakyll, mpalco, kidsims and so on and so on, who seem to be in EVERY open league I am ever put in, but I must be missing something when it comes to playoff success vs regular season success.

I have a career hockey regular season record of .543 (although its closer to .600 the last couple years due to the learning curve) in 40 WIS open league seasons, and I've made the playoffs 33 times.

That is where my problem starts. In those 33 playoffs, the farthest I have made it is losing in the conference finals. I have never even played in a championship cup series, and my career playoff win percentage is .415

I ask you guys, is there something that you successful cup winning teams do in the playoffs that you don't do in the regular season??? I usually do the "sniper/distributor/defender) thing on all four forward lines just like the regular season. Do you make line four a pure checking line and move more scorers to the other 3 lines? Do you put a Gretzky or Lemieux on the short hand line unlike the regular season? Do you switch any settings? Do you move Duggan to BOTH short hand lines?

I am open to any suggestions. It just makes no sense to me that I can go 48-22-10 or something like that in every league I join and get a top five seed, but then lose my first series 4-0 or 4-1 no matter who I play or from what seed I am. HELP!!!

One of the things I do amerk is rest my starting goaltender as much as possible during the regular season. This way his energy is high and he is able to play in most, ifnot all playoff games. I'm also not afraid to switch lines around during the playoffs. I pay close attention to the players +/-, and if he is consistantly a - player, I will shuffle the lines to better "protect" him with better defensive forwards.

As someone who has achieved the WIS Grand Slam, I applaud ur persistence in obtaining this goal. Have you tried the 3 goalie platoon that I outlined in my help thread? U can use a 4 goalie rotation during the regular season (with the minor league goalie) then only ur 3 drafted goalies during the playoffs.

Everyone seems to think conservative and/or checking is the only way to play. Once the playoffs start I adjust my lines as necessary for each opponent. It is not uncommon for me to use aggressive or medium for one or both of my top two even strength lines.

Also, don't be afraid to roll with your backup/scrub goal tender. Sometimes they are smokin hot.

And, like Chuck mentioned, it seems helpful to have your #1 GT play a lower pct of games than he did in his real life season.